Listen to Podcast | Cantonese: Common Words and Useful Phrases

Psst… You can find our How Do You Say Podcasts on Spotify too! Head to Spotify – LearnDialect.sg or search for LearnDialect.sg on Spotify.

Podcast Transcript | Cantonese: Common Words and Useful Phrases

Hello everybody! This is Eugene from LearnDialect.sg. We are coming towards the end of March, and personally, I feel that the first quarter of 2019 has just flown by! If you had followed our podcast diligently, you would have learnt around 100 Cantonese common words and useful phrases by now! How’s that for committing less than 5 minutes a week to listen to our podcast?

For today’s Cantonese – How Do You Say Podcast, we are going to do a recap, so that it’s easier for you to revise what you have learnt so far. Here’s how I am going to do it. I’m going to say a phrase in English, followed by the Cantonese translation. Well, I’ll suggest for you to make use of this chance to test yourself by pausing the audio after you hear each English phrase. Ask yourself, how do you say it in Cantonese? Remember, you can always refer back to our previous podcasts if you need to understand the context or learn more about the words or phrases. I’ve picked 20 phrases that I think you are most likely to use over and over again in a Cantonese conversation. Are you ready? Let’s go!

• Have you eaten? 食咗未?
• How are you? 你好嗎?
• Hello, my name is Eugene. What is your name? 你好, 我個名叫 Eugene. 你叫咩名?
• My Cantonese is not good. Can you teach me? 我個廣東話唔好, 你可唔可以教我?
• Please, may I ask how do you say “eat” in Cantonese? 唔該, 請問你, ”Eat”用廣東話點講?
• Thank you. 唔該 or 多谢.
• You are welcome. 唔使客氣.
• Long time no see, how are you? 好耐冇見, 你點呀?
• Nice to meet you, stay in touch! 好開心見到你, 保持聯絡!
• I’ll make a move first, goodbye. 我走先喇, 再見.
• What is your job? How many years have you been working? 你係做咩工嘅? 做咗幾年?
• Happy New Year, may all things go smoothly! 新年快樂, 萬事如意!
• Happy Birthday. 生日快樂.
• Wish you happiness everyday. 希望日日開心.
• I love you. 我鍾意你.
• What is your phone number? 你個電話號碼係咩?
• Do you have Facebook? 你有冇Facebook?
• What are you talking about? I’ve never heard of this before, can you tell me more? 你哋係講乜嘢? 我冇听过, 你可唔可以講畀我听?
• I’m very tired. 我好癐.
• Please wait a moment, I’ll ask him to pick up the phone call. 請等一下, 我叫佢来听电话.

There you go. Here’s my list of common words and useful phrases based on what we have learnt in the Cantonese – How Do You Say Podcasts thus far. Are you ready to move on to the next level? I’ll see you next week then!

Love what you are reading? We’ve got lots more to share during our Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese express workshops. Join us to pick up words and phrases for everyday use in Singapore. More importantly, you can help to keep these languages alive!

Our Philosophy for Learning Cantonese in Singapore

At LearnDialect.sg, we want to make learning Cantonese fun, easy and practical for daily conversations in Singapore. As such, rather than figuring out which of the 10 or more Cantonese romanization system to use (e.g. Jyutping, Yale or Cantonese Pinyin etc.), we encourage you to form your own phonics, so that you make an association with these Cantonese words in the quickest way possible. To illustrate, the romanization of the English word, “eat”, is “Sik” using Jyutping and “Sihk” using Yale. However, in our “Have You Eaten?” podcast transcript, you’ll find that we use “sek”, which we think relates to us better. That said, you may use other romanization (e.g “sake”, “xig”, etc), as long as it helps you to make sense of what you hear.